Blue Jays: Kevin Pillar leaves Saturday’s game with injury

Kevin Pillar was the latest Blue Jay to go down with an injury, as he was banged up on Saturday after making yet another highlight reel catch.

Kevin Pillar does it again. With one out in the bottom of the 3^rd inning, in a scoreless game, Brock Holt popped up to shallow centre field. Pillar came racing in and dove to make yet another incredible catch.

Due to the fact that the ball was hit so shallow in centre field, the runner on second assumed the ball was going to drop and was already around third when Pillar made the catch. Bad idea assuming a ball would drop with Pillar patrolling centre field. Pillar then flipped the ball to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. at second base, who then stepped on the base to turn an easy double play.

Unfortunately for Pillar and the Blue Jays, he had to later leave the game due to injury. You could see Pillar was in some discomfort when in the dugout after that catch. Pillar left the game with what the team is calling “a right sternoclavicular joint injury.” The team had not commented on the next time he will be assessed as of Saturday evening. Dwight Smith Jr. later came into the game for him. Smith Jr. played right field and Grichuk moved over to centre field.

As of Sunday morning, Pillar was placed on the 10 day disabled list with the shoulder issue, and showed up to the ballpark on Sunday with his arm in a sling. Chances are he should be able to return in relatively short order, and the All-Star break certainly provides some nice timing for the 29 year old outfielder to get healthy.

It’s also possible the team could look to move him before the non-waiver trade deadline, but his health will obviously effect the interest from rival GM’s. If he’s able to come back after the break and show no signs of injury, he could still potentially fetch a return worth moving him for. He does have two years of club control remaining as well, so the front office isn’t in a position where they have to move him either.

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Hopefully “Superman” can get back to what he does best in relatively short order.

*Update- Pillar is expected to miss 4-6 weeks due to the injury.